Newbie Question

Hello, I have an 8 month old I’ve just in the past two weeks switched from breast to bottles. Originally I thought I would just pump and feed during the day, then nurse at night (he transfers fine; it’s just very painful for me and only getting worse). However, it’s becoming too painful. The problem is, right now I’m just barely able to keep up with his demand during the day (he takes 2-3oz every 2hrs; I pump for ~15-20 mins every 2hrs and yield about that, sometimes more in the morning - I pump until I’m not getting anything even with breast compressions or hand expression). His schedule at night varies so much - waking anywhere from 2-6x, I don’t know how I would manage pumping and feeding (plus I’m already dead from lack of sleep and can’t imagine getting up to pump). Also, the one time I’ve tried to feed him a bottle during the night, he completely freaked out and wouldn’t calm down until I offered the breast. I’m not against formula during the night, but so far he hasn’t taken the two kinds we’ve tried (during the day). I’m not sure if it’s because he truly hates the taste (he’ll eat about 1oz of it), or if he knows he can get breastmilk if he just waits it out. We had this experience with the bottles, too - he refused them, but we just kept offering (and not offering breast - he ate 2 oz over 6 hours that morning...) until finally he realized that was his only choice, and he’s been fine with them since. I want him to still get breastmilk until a year for the health benefits, but if it’s a choice between some breastmilk and having to nurse or switching entirely to formula, I have to go with the 2nd option, as I just can’t take this pain anymore. Advice?

Re: Newbie Question

I'd really like some more info about the pain you're experiencing. 8 months is a really long time to have pain. I'm sure you've probably tried a bunch of stuff to get rid of it, but if you could just remind me, maybe something'll pop out that's worth trying. Unfortunately I don't have much experience with bottles (neither of mine would take them) so I don't know I'd be much help there :/

Re: Newbie Question

Yeah I am confused here too. it sounds like now you are pumping his day meals and feeding him his night meals due to breast pain from feeding. But that he still very much needs the night time connection to you and getting up to pump isn't an option and the baby is able to transfer milk just fine on his own when he dream feeds. Is that the jist of it? If so let's talk about the breast pain. It is all of the breast or just the nipple? Is it pain that's always been there or it's new? Is it latch based or do you think it's something else? Have you been seen for thrush?

Re: Newbie Question

I am not sure what your question is, mama7008? Are you wanting to figure out how to pump more, or help baby be comforted overnight with bottles and not nursing- or something else?

Any ideas on why nursing at night is becoming more painful after the switch to pumping during the day? (If that is what is happening.)

We discussed before about the difficult balance when weaning off the breast - on the one hand, knowing that you are in (so far, unresolvable) pain and want the process to be complete sooner rather than later, while at the same time being careful to not exacerbate issues of plugs etc. that are part of the pain problem. So I just wanted to check in on how you think that is going.

Re: Newbie Question

I’m sorry, we’ve been traveling the past few days. I will try to give decent background:

Baby was born with a posterior tongue tie and upper lip tie which were revised before he was a week old. The only “symptom” was nipple pain while nursing - lipstick shape after nursing, bruising, cracks, blisters, and bleeding. We did CST, suck training, and the stretches recommended by the provider, but after several months, nothing had changed. The same thing happened with his sister (who is now 3). The difference between the two is that when this baby’s teeth started coming in, the pain increased for me. He just broke a new tooth, which explains why nursing was getting more painful the past week or two (I did try different positions to see if that would help - it didn’t). I nursed my daughter for 18 months despite the pain, but I can’t do that again, especially since it is more painful this time around.

I was originally just trying to get ideas about how to handle nighttime feedings. Since posting, I have tried to feed baby a bottle of mixed breastmilk and formula to try to get him to accept the formula (which has worked). I know this isn’t ideal, but at least he’s taking it and still getting breastmilk. Now my plan is to continue mixing bottles for as long as my supply can keep up - thankfully he only takes 2-3oz bottles (1oz breastmilk and 2oz formula) every 2hrs, so I only need a max of 12oz breastmilk/day. I’m pumping every 2-3 hours during the day and will try to pump every 3-4 hrs at night. I am hoping this will maintain enough supply to last us for 3 months, by which time I should have enough of a freezer stash to wean off pumping and then wean him off everything at a year. I haven’t tried a bottle at night yet, but I’m hoping when we do, he’ll be used to bottles and the formula/breastmilk combination and will accept it.

Re: Newbie Question

I wonder if you've had issues with vasospasms at all? It might be worth doing Dr. Newman's protocol - it's just vitamin B and magnesium so it's not like you'd have much to lose by trying it. It made a big difference for me when nothing else worked for my pain (including lip/tongue tie revision). Your nipples are so used to be compressed that the blood vessels have sort of an automatic clamping reaction to nursing. This helps to relax them.

Re: Newbie Question

@carm3, I don’t think vasospasms are my problem, though I can’t say for sure. I have occasionally had my nipples turn whitish at the ends, but it always seems due to compression during nursing and returns to normal after. I might have vasospasms due to a bad latch, but I think the source of my problem is the bad latch, which I have tried in vain to correct. My mom even commented on how painful it looked at Christmas (and she was sitting halfway across the room). I saw a breastfeeding specialist with my daughter (I think she was 13 months old at the time), and she said my daughters tie revision sites had healed perfectly, but for whatever reason, she never relearned how to properly latch/suck. I think it’s the same issue here.

I really am ok with this transition. I am done trying to figure out how to make things work and am ready to just move on with this, as it is what will work best for our family at this time. This baby will likely be our last due to my health issues (which do not have any relation to this situation, outside of my emotional/mental health dealing with constant pain), so I don’t need to figure anything out to make changes next time.